The UFO religion nexus

 

December 2025 (just pre-Christmas) saw the release of the first trailer for director Steven Spielberg’s UFO themed film “Disclosure Party”. It seemed heavily infused with religious and consciousness aspects, echoing in intriguing ways the trajectories of his classic “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977-78), “ET” (1982) and even more so with the “Taken” (2003) series which was tagged with the descriptor “3 families, 4 generations, 50 years of alien encounters”.  “Disclosure Party” seems to be Spielberg re-embracing an emotional return to “aliens” and the pivotal question of what if we were all, directly and simultaneously, faced with confronting evidence that “we are not alone”, even embracing the haunting child perspective of “Taken” alien abduction “screen memories” of “animals” – elks, racoons (? – Kary Mullis’ talking racoon revisited?) and the confronting impression of Emily Brunt’s TV weather girl seemingly “possessed” by “aliens” to perhaps convey widespread “disclosure”. Maybe this is not the intended trajectory, but we have to wait until 12 June 2026 for the film release.  Lines like “if you found out we weren’t alone would that frighten you?” and “Why would he make such a vast universe … yet save it only for us,” the latter delivered by a nun, suggest religious pivots.

 

Back in February 2025, I participated in a discussion about UFOs and religion on the Australian ABC radio program “God Forbid” hosted by James Carleton.

“Close Encounters of the religious kind: how God and UFOs have both begun religious movements”                                                                                                                             

From the shows site:

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/godforbid/god-forbid/105871668

(The program is no longer present on the site, but I archived a copy to assist any further discussion, research and for educational purposes)
“Looking towards the heavens for meaning doesn’t always mean looking to God. 

UFOs (and the modern moniker UAPs) have long been the food for thought of sceptics, theologians, and astrobiologists alike.  

“But what does belief in these mysterious phenomena have in common with religion? 

And what implications does life outside Earth have for the existence of God?” 

 

GUESTS:

• Bill Chalker, UFO researcher. Contributing editor, International UFO Reporter. Author of Hair of the Alien and The Oz Files: The Australian UFO Story. 
• Reverend Dr Tim Jenkins, Reader in Anthropology and Religion, Divinity Faculty, University of Cambridge. Author of Images of Elsewhere 
• Dr. Diana Walsh Pasulka, Professor, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina Wilmington, specialising in UFO and UAP religions 

                                                        

While I have done a lot of research in this area I have tended to avoid getting deeply involved in religious aspects, particularly because there is so much historical baggage associated with case studies often associated with toxic and tragic events.  Additionally, I have been centrally driven by potential scientific and historical aspects of the UFO/UAP subjects, particularly the search for physical evidence.

 

Obviously Heaven’s gate comes to mind, but even Falun Gong, the Aetherius Society, Scientology, the Raelians and other religious movements have had their problematic episodes, sometimes associated with UFO connections of the wayward kind. I was even “cursed” once by an Aetherius spokesman, decades ago. That didn’t pan out to anything. Also, oddly enough, investigation into the alleged alien abduction from Gundiah Queensland back in October 2001, highlighted Scientology connections, but it appeared to be a hoax. See my book “Hair of the Alien” (2005) for details, rather than just the preliminary report I wrote with Diane Harrison, based on our field investigation.

 

Many worthwhile tomes have appeared in this contested space. Tim Jenkins and Diana Walsh Pasulka have both published interesting works in this area.

 

Tim Jenkins has had published a 6 volume series of extended essays - “Images of Elsewhere” – which he kindly sent to me. I recommend them for their scholarship and perspectives. Across these volumes Tim explores the following:

Volume 1: “Flying Saucers – An Introduction”

“Flying saucers emerged as objects of concern to an intelligence unit operating within the US Air Force in the early Cold War. This book tracks the progressive identification and conceptualization of the UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) through contemporary documents and traces the fate of the “interplanetary hypothesis”. This small-scale history relates to extraordinary developments in the period in both weapons and communications technologies, as powered rocket flight beyond the atmosphere became a possibility and home radar had to be expanded to detect and meet the threat of enemy missiles. In this context, sightings provoked increasing division among investigators as well as growing public interest in flying saucers, and official policy shifted focus from research to management of reactions to these objects. All the features of early UFO sightings have continued into the present with controversies over UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).”

Volume 2: “Religion and Science Fiction”

“Flying saucers display characteristic features, transmitted by an important strand of early science fiction, which express religious concerns entangled with new technologies and scientific discoveries. The extraordinary universe discovered by late nineteenth-century advances in the sciences, with its expansion in both space and time, was populated in spiritualist and other thought by intelligent beings attentive to and bound up with the progress of humankind. This book traces the appearance of these interplanetary guardians, active at every level from the atom to the Cosmos, and uses a pulp science fiction story from 1945 to describe how this theosophical worldview was expanded to explain important aspects of contemporary American wartime society, in this fashion preparing the landscape for the coming of the flying saucers.”

Volume 3: “Martian Linguistics”

“Ideas of «communication» and «information» are key to the project of seeking life on other planets. US Air Force encounters with flying saucers after 1945 and the search for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI), pursued since 1960, both point to the necessity of composing and understanding interplanetary languages to allow meaningful exchange if contact were ever established. These themes are also explored in science fiction stories across the period to the present, responding to the changing understanding of the possibility of communication. This book traces the major questions that structure the search, together with the episodes raising (and dashing) hope of contact, the languages proposed as means of exchange, and some of the novels that explore this history. Taken together, these elements pose the question: can we ever cross the boundary between our and other minds?”

Volume 4: “UFO Reports”

“UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) were originally the subject of military intelligence interest but quickly became transferred to the civilian sphere in the late 1940s. All the later possibilities discovered by investigations were hinted at in the military materials but expanded in new contexts. This book traces the earliest discussions of UFO reports from the civilian perspective through two case studies. The first concerns the detailed claim by a journalist that flying saucers are real, met by denial at each point by an expert with scientific credentials; the second gives the history of the first “contactee”, showing the development of the idea of the flying saucer in various regards, reporting close sightings and even repeated meetings with interplanetary visitors. Taken together, this trio of possibilities – claiming the literal truth, or identifying error, or imagining new forms of life – created the frame for later engagements with the problem.”

Volume 5: “Alien Sightings”

“For the last seventy years, members of the public have reported seeing piloted craft, thought to come from other planets, in the sky or on land. Their reasons for making such reports often remain obscure and hard to separate from the accounts of investigators of various kinds drawn to these events. More, these witnesses’ reports have varied over that time, moving from distant sightings at the beginning to include Close Encounters and then abductions, and the focus of the report likewise altered, from description of physical objects to a concern with psychological reactions and, later, with the recovery of hidden memories. This book reviews a series of well-known reports by contemporary journalists of these sightings, showing the order and patterns that underlie both the events themselves and their reception.”

Volume 6: “Images of Elsewhere”

“In the modern period, with understandings shaped by new technologies, we are bound to find something like flying saucers, with a range of properties that are both real and imaginary, which can act as relays between human groups, places and times, providing new resources and allowing innovation to happen. This book reviews the different scientific models that have been employed in making sense of sightings, showing the broader schemes in which they have been put to work, and indicating the different possibilities these schemes contain, running from realistic claims about sightings of objects to claims of encounters with interplanetary creatures which are both psychologically and technically far in advance of our times. It offers a comprehensive account of the features, puzzles, anomalies and paradoxes of flying saucer reports.”

 

Diana Walsh Pasulka (D.W. Pasulka as she is identified in her books) had published “American Cosmic – UFOs, Religion, Technology” (2019), “Encounters – Experiences with nonhuman intelligences – Explorations with UFOs, dreams, angels, AI, and other dimensions” (2023), and scheduled for late July 2026 her follow up book “The Others – UFOs, AI, and the secret forces guiding human Destiny,” for which we have the following description on Amazon:

 

“In the early 20th century, a censured Catholic visionary predicted that humanity would soon encounter a new form of intelligence―one that would appear alien, but was something far stranger. By the mid-20th century, other Catholic mystics and science fiction visionaries like Arthur C. Clarke echoed similar prophecies, naming the 21st century as the critical threshold.

“In The Others, acclaimed author and religious studies scholar D.W. Pasulka uncovers a hidden history of alleged contact between human and non-human intelligences―some framed as angels, others as UFOs/UAP―interwoven with the rise of artificial intelligence and the dream of immortality. Pasulka examines the science of life extension laboratories to the beliefs of UAP experiencers. She unveils a hidden architecture of belief and influence―one in which human consciousness is being reimagined and extended.

“Drawing on first-person interviews, suppressed histories, and access to insiders in science and tech, The Others explores a startling new terrain: where the sacred meets the synthetic, and where the next phase of human evolution may already be underway.”

 

The censured Catholic visionary Pasulka refers to is Teilhard De Chardin and his idea of a “cosmic vision of evolution”, suggests consciousness is the “axis of creation, along with “the Omega Point”, the “Noosphere, leading to the “ultra-human.”

 

In my contribution to the “God Forbid” discussion I was trying to take the host, James Carleton, beyond his focus on everything being merely anecdotal, and there was no compelling evidence for UFOs or UAP.

 

I brought to the discussion the example of Harry Turner, an Australian Defence scientist, who prepared a classified report to DAFI – Directorate of Air Force Intelligence – that concluded that some of their reports may involve “extraterrestrial” sources.  He also was the chief Health Physics officer at the British atomic bomb tests at Maralinga in South Australia, where he looked into UFO reports on the range, and in one case in 1954, radar confirmed a UFO shadowing a Canberra bomber, with the object leaving at some 5,000 kilometres per hour - that was something way beyond the anecdotal. I mentioned the UFO encounter on the Woomera Range just prior to a Black Knight launch, witnessed by range officers and scientists. See my article “Tommy Leader”: Tom Dalton-Morgan and the 3% UFO solution” in UFO Truth and on my blog:

http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2024/06/tommy-leader-tom-dalton-morgan-and-3.html

 

I drew into the discussion, by way of events that go beyond the mere anecdotal, the experiences of 2 Anglican priests - Reverend William Gill in 1959 in then Australian territory, Papua-New Guinea, and Reverend Lionel Browning at Cressy Tasmania in 1960.  I knew Bill Gill and spoke with him on a number of occasions.  I stood at the Cressy rectory window where Reverend Browning had his sighting. In DAFI UFO files there was a report from a USAF pilot having a sighting at Cressy around the same time. Two men of religion who were not alone in their sightings.  While higher ups dismissed Browning’s sighting in an atmospheric vein, their investigator Commander Waller, was so impressed with the sighting, that he developed a UFO patent based on it.

 

In the early days of Australian ufology, an article on flying saucers and the activities of Edgar Jarrold’s pioneer UFO group the Australian Flying Saucer Bureau, had brought together our two Australian UFO pioneers – Edgar Jarrold and Andrew Tomas.  Jarrold was certain he was in on the biggest mystery of all time – the flying saucer mystery - and that he was fast tracking through its convoluted pathways to the ultimate answer.  Andrew Tomas, an accountant in his ordinary life, also felt he had the answers, or at least a deep insight into them.  His were rooted in the mysteries of the Orient and the cosmic super races that had the future of mankind in their hands.  Mankind was lost and it needed to be guided back into a golden space age mediated by cosmic law. 

 

Tomas decided to seek out Jarrold, with a view to joining the group, and better grounding himself in the world of flyting saucers then holding sway in the Western mind – the Occidental world. On Sunday January 10, 1954, the two met and discussed for hours the question of life on other planets. Tomas showed Jarrold a book he had written under his Russian name A. Boncza-Tomaszewski and published in Shanghai China way back in 1935, entitled “The Planetary Doctrine.”  He drew Jarrold’s attention to an intriguing passage about “strange shiny objects” in the sky, which facilitated “communication … from planet to planet.”  Clearly Tomas had been thinking about the question of beings from other worlds and their dominion over us long before the modern flying saucer/UFO era began with American pilot Kenneth Arnold’s sighting in 1947, and certainly before Edgar Jarrold started his interest.

 

The passage from Tomas’ 1935 book revealed the following prescient statement:

“Travellers and explorers often noticed in the heights of the Himalayas strange shiny objects or creatures soaring high above the mountain crests, which are an eternal puzzle to Europeans.  Whether these mysterious objects are vehicles belonging to supermen we dare not assert, although such an explanation is quite plausible.  Cannot the reader believe that by such means utilising unknown energies, communication is maintained from planet to planet?”

 

Andrew Tomas had come to Australia in 1948 by a path that had taken him via sojourns in Harbin and Shanghai in China. Originally from Russia, he came down under, as part of the stream of people fleeing the turmoil in China, a place he had spent considerable time in particularly exploring the mysteries of the orient.  In 1935 he met his spiritual mentor, a fellow Russian, the mystic artist and explorer Nicholas Roerich, in Shanghai. 

 

Roerich was no ordinary explorer.  Eight years earlier he was leading an expedition on a mission to find the legendary Shambhala and to bring about a re-envisioned solution to the Great Game – “the coming Shambhala war.” In Shanghai in 1935 Roerich was lecturing and it was his fascinating description of a strange experience in August 1927 in northeast Tibet that captured Tomas’ attention and anticipated an enduring obsession to come.  Andrew Tomas would return to this theme and the 1927 incident in some of the best selling books he would later write, particularly “Shambhala: Oasis of Light 

 

Roerich’s travel diary “Altai-Himalaya”, the chronicle of his 1924-1929 Asian expedition, describes what happened:

“On August 5^th – something remarkable! We were in our camp in the Kukunor district not far from the Humboldt Chain.  In the morning about half-past nine some of our caravaneers noticed a remarkably big black eagle flying above us.  Seven of us began to watch this unusual bird.  At this same moment another of our caravaneers remarked, “There is something far above the bird.” And he shouted in his astonishment.  We all saw, in a direction from north to south, something big and shiny reflecting the sun, like a huge oval moving at great speed.  Crossing our camp this thing changed in its direction from south to southwest.  And we saw how it disappeared in the intense blue sky. We even had time to take our field glasses and saw quite distinctly an oval form with a shiny surface, one side of which was brilliant from the sun.”

 

Roerich had no immediate explanation for what he and his fellow travellers had seen, but given his mystic sensibilities he would have ultimately seen it as a sign of Shambhala. His wife Helena who was also there wrote in her diary it must have been a craft with people from somewhere else and even suggested the existence of life on other planets.  Swedish Explorer Sven Hedin's expedition was in Inner Mongolia at the same time and was regularly launching weather balloons, but the distance between his party and Roerich’s expedition in Kukunor district in north east Tibet as well as the rapid movement of the object seems to preclude this remote possibility.

 

When Andrew Tomas met Roerich in Shanghai in 1935 he suggested the aerial object was an “aircraft or spacecraft from Shambhala”.  Shambhala was the hidden civilisation than Roerich, Tomas and many others spent much of their lives seeking – a place simplistically captured in the classic book “Lost Horizon” (1933) and the 1937 movie of the same name, which immortalised the myth of the hidden paradise of Shangri-La.

 

It was a very strange wrinkle in the great sweeping canvas of the Great Game – the race for empire in Asia.

 

In Sydney Australia in 1954 Jarrold appointed Andrew Tomas to the position of AFSB’s “official Sydney observer”, whose duty was to supply “all information offered in New South Wales about flying saucers”.  In a 1955 interview for People magazine, he described his role as addressing the “philosophical and theoretical side of saucers.”  In the same interviewed Tomas described his own sighting.

 

“My first sighting was at National Park, (Sydney) on 24^th March (1954).  I had no witnesses and didn’t have my camera with me … The object I saw was not less than 3000 ft and no more than 12,000 ft up.  The object was hovering about in the sky so I put up my hand and waved, and for a moment it was stationary – observing me I am quite certain – then a plane appeared and the object zoomed off, leaving a white vapour trail.”

 

Andrew Tomas had made a request under the "Aliens Act 1947" for a name change from his Russian one in 1951 which was originally denied, but by 1954 he was using the name Andrew Tomas. It is ironic or something else to have this "Application by an alien for written consent to change surname", when one considers the following comment by Andrew at the end of an article he wrote for the last issue of Jarrold's Australian Flying Saucer Magazine, "Are you ready for a planetary Crash?", pg. 7 February 1955: "In the circles of the duly initiated Brethren of Space, fantastic stories are told of saucers, messages from space and cosmic decrees.  Perhaps I could tell you a science fiction story from my life how a saucer zoomed over the National Park in Sydney to say "Hello" to an incarnated spaceman.  But who would believe it? In these days of suspicion and witchhunts it is better to keep one's mouth shut.  Frankly, I am not too enthusiastic about a psychiatric test either.  Anyway, my cosmic friends tell me not to worry about what other people say, but just place this information before the public.  "It won't be long now," they say.  Jokes aside, let us think more of the stars.  Let us all become the children of Heaven.  Let us dream of an Utopia where there is no hatred and no wars.  But before we see that Utopia a red sign will flash in the skies, "Tighten your belts." As Ripley says, "believe it or not," but we are heading for a planetary crash."   Now was Andrew Tomas being tongue-in-cheek here, or trying to say something else.  He did have a UFO sighting at the National Park on March 24 1954.  An uninformed outsider might have read "a red sign" reference in an entirely different light.  Here I’m suggesting a paranoid member or informant of the intelligence community searching for evidence for “communist” infiltration.  But Tomas’ red thread was never that prosaic.

 

Tomas believed “that a War of Two Worlds is going on and that terrestrial and cosmic forces are arrayed for battle.”  “Saucers have been known in the East for thousands of years.   Their present appearance in mass has been foretold long, long ago.  They are only an effect, not the cause, and the cause is the great struggle between the Forces of Good, of Culture, of Enlightenment - and of Evil, of Hate, and Darkness”, wrote Tomas in a letter to Barker in 1956.   Tomas took such matters seriously enough that he made plans to respond to them.  In a letter to Frederick Phillips, a UFOIC co-worker, in 1957 Tomas revealed that he was planning to start up a business in the Queensland countryside with the President of the Queensland UFO group, Charles Middleborough.

 

“Besides in the bush there will be more scope for the realisation of Project Contact Space.  (Middleborough) had a UFO hovering right over his house already.  I wish you would materialise that plan about space contact you talked to me about.  This should have priority because (excuse me for talking like our mutual friend G.D.) I am absolutely certain of the approach of the cataclysm.  Confidentially, the friend in Queensland and myself have been working on a ‘saviour community’ for the last 2 years.  Not to save ourselves but some fruits of our culture.   There are at least 3 or 4 in America and a number in India and other countries.  Another one coming up in Sth. America.  All prefer to keep quiet about it.  Some have stocked up food for a year or more”, he wrote to Phillips.

 

By March, 1958, Andrew Tomas, as secretary and organiser of the International Organising Committee of the Planetary Pact, circulated a draft of the Pact to "top news agencies of the world." a draft for a PLANETARY PACT - “an international treaty for a planetary pool of natural resources, means of production, manpower and scientific genius.”  He was advocating “a planetary government for the Space Age”.  One of its ultimate aims was “to step up space projects once there is a Planetary Government to control the resources pooled by all the countries, and then to attempt contacts with other planets being prepared to find life on some of them.  From a narrow minded nationalist man will first become a planetary citizen and then a citizen of the Universe.” Tomas was optimistic that the pact would “concluded at the dawn of the space age so that people on this planet should live in peace and plenty building bridges to the stars.”  Tomas’ plans feel on deaf ears.  In the wake of the popularity of von Daniken’s book “Chariots of the Gods?” Tomas was able to get his own book out.  “We are not the first - Riddles of ancient science” was published in 1971.  It was dedicated the Count of Saint-Germain!  He followed it in quick succession with “Atlantis: From legend to discovery”, “Beyond the Time barrier”, “On the shores of Endless worlds” and his true passion, “Shambhala: Oasis of light” (1977), which included a revisiting of his old planetary peace pact ideas.  His lifetime of work in esoteric traditions had come full circle.  The UFO occult connections had taken him a long way.  

 

Jarrold’s journey was not quite so liberating.  Jarrold failed to see the shallowness and facile nature of much of the UFO occult claims.  Unlike Tomas, Jarrold could not readily see beyond it to avoid its inevitable pitfalls.  Harold Fulton's reaction to Gordon Deller was an entirely rational one.  Fulton was a New Zealand Air Force officer and his military pragmatic background rejected Deller's UFO vision steeped in spiritualism, "Oahspe - the Kosmon Bible", and sightings of mile long Etherian spaceships.   Deller even went into a trance transmitting purported messages from the Etherians to Fulton.  Deller indicated that Fulton and others (including Jarrold) had been specially chosen by the "Etherians" to prepare the ground for them.  Deller indicated he had see their ships but had only contacted the crew in trance.   Fulton could not accept these ideas at all.  He was only interested in factual sightings and not in any fantastic aspect of "explanations".   In short he thought Deller was a nut.   Occult diehards with UFO persuasions may cling to the claim that Fulton experienced an illness of 3 days duration following Deller's visit.  Coincidence is more likely as Fulton went on to provide a balanced and enduring legacy for New Zealand ufology through the 1950s.  Although old age slowed him down he was even representing MUFON during the 1970s.

 

 Whatever the original effects of Deller's theories, Edgar Jarrold was by the middle of 1954 experiencing the high point of his ufological career. He was moving into the centre of the Australian government’s uneasy embrace with the saucer problem. Jarrold had received an official invitation from the then Minister for Air, William McMahon (a future prime minister), for a meeting with Air Force Intelligence in Melbourne, on the subject of flying saucers.  The impetus for this was the coincidence of UFO sightings that seemed to confirm Jarrold's predictions of an increase in reports in June - July, 1954, during the closest approach of Mars to Earth.  Jarrold was not alone in support for this theory.  Even Harry Turner promoted it in the anonymous article he authored for the Melbourne Argus newspaper on June 26th, 1954.

Jarrold would disappear from the Australian UFO scene, becoming fodder for Gray Barker’s over-the-top “They Knew too much about flying saucers” stories.

 

We can see from this wandering down early pathways of Australian ufology there were a lot of religious impulses of differing creeds. Given such impulses are still evident in the richness of todays UAP offerings, we can probably predict with some confidence that fictional offerings like the forthcoming “Disclosure Party” (pending a name change) will probably get a huge outing of popular responses. However, our UFO UAP community and the broader world communities seem to be unpredictable. So let’s see what 2026 brings to our UFO sensibilities writ large on the ever changing world stage.

 

"The Haunted Abductee" in context

In September 2025 the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research (AIPR) published a special issue of its Australian Journal of Parapsychology – Volume 25, Supplement – which featured 2 main parts – “Haunt and Poltergeist Clearing in Australian Residences: A Retrospective Survey” by Lance Storm and Robb Tilley (originally published in the journal in 2020) and “Revisiting Haunt and Poltergeist Clearing in Australian Residences: Analyses of 30 Case Reports” (2025) by Robb Tilley.

Why should this be of interest to UFO/UAP witnesses, researchers and enthusiasts? Well, within what became known as “the clearing project” a very striking case emerged.  It was a powerful example of a complex dynamic where both UFO and paranormal aspects seemed heavily intertwined, featuring what seemed extraordinary physical evidence.

 

In a foreword, Dr Callum Cooper, of the University of Northampton, UK, wrote, “My compliments to Dr Lance Storm and Mr. Robb Tilley for their bravery in compiling this unique take on hauntings, poltergeists, and ‘clearing’ work…. Mr. Tilley proclaims his approach to be unique, or indeed the first when it comes to such documentation, and the quantitative documentation of such by Dr Lance Storm. Indeed, this may be true …. Presenting these ideas in a rigorous academic framework – especially those which may even seem ‘fringe’ for the most open-minded of parapsychologists – leads to healthy discussion and new learning.”

 

“Bravery”? The “clearing” efforts of Robb Tilley and his view of how and why it seems so successful, runs directly against the “mainstream” view of parapsychology of such things. Robb Tilley states that “the clearing of unwanted entities is done by spirits (non-physical beings”.  People like Robb Tilley, according to his position, are simply “intermediaries”, facilitators helping to bring about “communion” of “the spirits”.  This is very much a shamanic perspective.  To put it simply, “good spooks” versus “bad spooks. Robb Tilley points out the current prevailing parapsychological view: “the poltergeist is not a ghost or demon at all, but is caused by an unknown energy emanating from the subconscious mind of a person, usually female, who is deeply disturbed, frustrated, sexually repressed and often pubescent.”  He contends this position is based on weak evidence, and it seems there is a growing drift away from the “conventional” model.

 

Over 30 years Robb Tilley has been involved with more that 500 cases.  The case studies revealed are only of those who participated in the quantitative documentation and testing – a much smaller number of cases (30). Still, 30 is pretty good given the inherent difficulties of this sort of effort.

 

I got to know Robb Tilley, pretty much from the early parts of his “clearing efforts.”  He became my psychic muse, and me, I became his UFO and alien abduction muse.  Particularly since the 1970s I have seen that many, if not most, UFO close encounters seem to have a paranormal or psychic aspect. 

Robb participated in a number of my UFO investigations, but I only really was involved in 2 of his “clearing” cases. 

 

One was a “basic clearing” case, which didn’t make it into the 30 cases reporting. The people involved didn’t respond to the requests to participant in the formal questionnaires and study.  However, because I was curious I came along to see how “clearings” worked. Although possible subjective, I certainly notice that going in was certainly darker and disturbing than the end result – very positive and “clear” it seemed to me.  Despite that, it was still somewhat subjective for me.  As Robb was wrapping up, I sat with one of the daughters in a separate room of the house.

 

It was the Christmas season, and there was a large inflatable Santa in the room. So, just me, the daughter and nearby a large inflated “Santa”.  I was thinking, that while things were seemingly positively “cleared” it was still subjective, for me at least.  The daughter wasn’t really interacting with me.  Perhaps we were both deep in independent thought. Then, it the corner of my eye, I saw “Santa” arm rise up and down. I thought WTF, and as I was closest to it I jumped up and when straight over to it.  I lifted the arm up and it seemed too heavy to do what I saw, without assistance or some other lifting aid. Nothing was of that nature, plus no drafts, no strings, no assisted jumping or moving.  I was somewhat stunned, despite the absurdity of it all. Robb told me later, after I brought it up, that was “the good spirits” just giving me a “wink”, to nudge me along the spectrum of my scepticism, to a point where I was more open to his take on things. These days I’m more open to the possibilities. I am impressed with Robb’s “clearing” abilities, but I cannot shake the absurdist impact of when “Santa waved to me”, as Robb was in another part of the house bringing his “clearing” efforts to an end.

 

The other case I was involved in was much more compelling – the “haunted abductee” - and this was described in detail in Robb’s case study report.

 

The case of “the Haunted Abductee”

 

The Liverpool Sydney area case at first seemed a typical haunted house situation. For Robb things didn’t add up until the mother of the family finally disclosed, “I haven’t told you about the alien abductions.” That’s when Robb called me in. What followed was the revelation of one of the strangest and potentially most evidential cases we have worked on, revealing an extraordinary level of apparently parapsychological, paranormal and alien dimensions.

 

Robb and I investigated this case of a haunted house, but the “abduction” aspects revealed a possible “alien implant”, a possible “missing foetus”, seemingly powerful personal transformation and the psychic “multiverse”.

 

For Robb Tilley it was one of the longest, most complex and compelling haunting histories he had been made aware of. A lot of the “haunting” aspects were related to the woman’s adult daughter from her first marriage. The woman’s first husband is deceased, shot by a hitchhiker.

The “haunted house” aspects appear to be brought to an end through Robb Tilley’s “house clearing” protocols, but hidden within this complex life long, multi-generational, multi-witnessed situation was a very powerful history of complex and confronting UFO experiences.

 

All sorts of strange and bizarre events had occurred, but most disturbing for the woman was the possibility that she and her daughter and perhaps other members of her family may have experienced alien abduction experiences. The woman did not want publicity that would identify her, but she also wanted these experiences to end, but also she wanted to assist serious researchers in understanding what is going on.

 

Barium Swallow Ultrascans had been taken in support of the assessment of the causal factors of a troubling throat condition, which was affecting the woman’s ability to comfortably breath and swallow. The onset of the condition coincided with a possible abduction episode.

 

The woman went to a medical specialist who shocked her when he asked her had she had some strange experiences that might have been associated with the item in her throat. She didn’t dare mention the possibility of alien abductions, but he shocked her when he said he had seen this sort of thing in people who have alien abduction experiences! He felt it should be examined more closely in a follow-up scan and gave her a C/T imaging referral – one of the most unusual I’ve come across: “Examination required: CT sinuses + neck. Clinical Notes: ?F/B neck. No H/O surgery. Nice lady but history of “alien abduction.” See Barium Swallow.”

 

She had an ultrasound scan after confirming a well developed unexpected pregnancy, apparently around 3 month’s term. The paradox is she was ending her marriage and both her former husband and her new partner had vasectomies. The scans confirm the presence of a foetus. At about 6 months into the pregnancy the woman had a possible abduction episode wherein she may have lost the foetus. She was on her back on the bed, her partner beside her, who would not response to her attempts to wake him. She felt there was something in the room and there was a peculiar swirling effect. Something was going on at the foot of the bed and her legs were being drawn apart. She recollects little else. The next morning it seemed like her water broke, there was some bleeding with only thin stringy umbilical cord like material being expelled. After a hospital check-up it was confirmed she was no longer pregnant, and that there had been a foot-long blood clot mass, which she attributes to being forced to lie down immobile for a long time in the hospital.

 

This case has been one of the strangest and potentially most evidential cases we have worked on together, revealing an extraordinary level of apparently parapsychological, paranormal and alien dimensions – a most unusual AIPR/UFOIC collaboration.

 

Our investigation had to be put on a long term hold, because of changes of circumstances and other issues with the witnesses.  We had to let the family deal with their situation without the added burden of a continuing complex and demanding research and investigation effort.  More recently the mother has had further contact with Robb Tilley.  We hope to be able to revisit the case.

 

The AIPR “clearing study” with its fuller context revealed in detail with the September 2025

publication of the Australian Journal of Parapsychology, allows us to re-examine the case in a fuller context.  We hope that will also involve opportunities to revisit this fascinating case.

 

Robb Tilley and I pretty much agree that with many UFO/UAP close encounters there is a distinct “psychic fallout”.  If the witnesses were already “psychic”, they were more likely to experience a wider range of psychic experiences after the encounters.

 

With the 21^st century, the new UFO/UAP researchers seemed to have “rediscovered” the apparent paranormal psychic aspects of the encounter experience. Examining what research and experiencers found in the second half of the 20^th century would certainly help with bringing certainty and confirmations to these latter day UFO/UAP research/experience “discoveries.” Maybe they will realise and confirm that others have beaten this path long before themselves. That would be something to see in the current world of UFO/UAP posturing. There is much for them to discover.

 

By way of personal background, from 1971 to 1974 I completed a degree in Science majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics. During that time, I was chairman of “the ghost and poltergeist subcommittee” of the University of New England (UNE) Psychic Phenomena Society 1972-1973, which allowed me to investigate and research a broad range of events that seemed to fall into the broad categories of UFO and paranormal phenomena. After relocating to Sydney in 1975, to begin working as an industrial chemist, I began working with the Sydney based UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC).  I began writing about UFOs and possible paranormal connections for the Australian magazine "Psychic Australian." My first article was a 2-part article - “UFOs – the psychic connection” (published in December 1976 and January 1977).

 

Throughout my decades long UFO investigation and research career, from the 1970s through to now, many close encounter cases I examined, often featured what seemed paranormal, psychic or parapsychological linkages. Such features often seemed to be more apparent in intense highly localised UFO flap areas. It was during the 1970s that I had an intense “baptism of fire” with UFO flaps (or “UFO hot zones” – which included direct personal observations and experiences) at a number of specific locations, such as the Australian localities Tyringham-Dundurrabin, Mount Butler and Kempsey.  What seemed like “psychic storms” also featured in some “alien abduction” situations. 

 

I have noted that Robb Tilley’s perspective on “haunted house clearings” echoes a shamanic approach.  Again, by way of background, I have also explored possible shamanic perspectives in UFO and “alien abduction” experiences since the 1970s. More recently I expanded on these perspectives in a 2-part article, “Exploring the Shamanism-Alien Abduction Connection” covering decades of research: 

https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/ufos-unexplained-phenomena/exploring-the-shamanism-alien-abduction-connection-part-1

https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/ufos-unexplained-phenomena/exploring-the-shamanism-alien-abduction-connection-part-2

I have found it to be a remarkable ongoing journey that compliments and expands my primary focus of scientific and historical research into the UFO/UAP subject. 

My favourite "Best Cases" - the result of extensive research & deep dives over the decades

An "Estimate of the Situation": its all in the history & "the deep dive" - past, present & future 

(Thanks Mary & Peter for the cap; Thanks Anthony Goodall of "Encounters Down Under Podcast" for the T-shirt). 

"Now what is it I know?"

"Some of what I know"

About the photos: "Now what is it I know?" & "Some of what I know" - these 2 books of mine, my library and decades of research. 

Like a lot of UFO researchers I have my own list of “best cases.”  The magazine “Fortean Times” got me to share part of that list way back in 2007 for their “60 years of UFOs” special issue.  From a rough short list of about 100 cases I developed my “top 10 best cases” from the Australian region.  

I periodically revisit that list reviewing each case but it remains the same today.  And yes, there are no cases from this century, but some come close and could easily enter this list, but I like this list.  Some have been centres of controversy, but ultimately I've found the counter arguments wanting.  Each of these cases are described at some level in this blog, my linked blogs, my books, and my many contributions to various books, journals and articles over the decades.  

Do your own deep dives and research.  I welcome constructive discussion.  

Here is my list with the reasons for each case being chosen in brackets:

1. 1954, August 31 – Sea Fury case, near Goulbourn, NSW, Australia (experienced naval pilot, radar visual confirmation, independent ground witnesses, apparent intelligent responses to witnesses’ thoughts about possible collision) 

2. 1992, July 23 – Peter Khoury “Hair of Alien” DNA case – Sydney, Australia (abduction type encounter with female Nordic blonde yields anomalous hair sample that suggests “hybrid origin” and unusual genetic profiles)

3. 1959, June 27 – Father Gill UFO entity sighting - Boianai, Papua New Guinea (credible multiple witness sighting of animate entities on UFO with intelligent interactions)

4. 1980, September 30 – George Blackwell’s Rosedale UFO landing physical trace case – Rosedale, Victoria Australia (compelling array of physical evidence – ground trace, missing water, effects on witness, other witness)

5. 1993, August 8 – Kelly Cahill’s abduction experience – Narre Warren North, Victoria, Australia (possible independent multiple witness UFO encounter with abduction dimensions and physical evidence)

6. 1966, January 19 – George Pedley’s Tully UFO nest encounter – Tully, Queensland, Australia (daylight close encounter with UFO take off leaving physical evidence – “UFO nest”)

7. 1966, April 4 – Ron Sullivan’s “bent headlight beam” experience – Burkes Flat, Victoria Australia (striking UFO encounter, physical traces, bent light beams, possible related fatality)

8. 1966, April 6 – Westall school daylight UFO “landing” encounter – Westall, Victoria, Australia (multiple witness daylight landing, physical traces, “cover-up” dimensions)

9. 1977-78 – Gisborne UFO abduction milieu – Gisborne New Zealand (complex and high strangeness UFO and abduction milieu – entities, multiple witnesses, multiple abductions)

10. 1973 May – August – Tyringham Dundurrabin intense UFO flap area, NSW, Australia (long term intense UFO flap, multiple witness, physical effects, paranormal dimensions)

In each case I have undertaken a lot of research and investigations that substantiates for me the reason why I regard them as impressive cases. Likewise I regularly review many of the other cases in my original rough short list of about 100 cases and others that have entered the fold to see if I should modify my list.  While many of these cases could easily qualify for inclusion my list remains the same as it was in 2007.

The Prime Minister’s “flying saucer” briefing - Tully ’66: George Pedley, Harold Holt, & John Busst

The Prime Minister’s “flying saucer” briefing

 - Tully ’66: George Pedley, Harold Holt, & John Busst

 

 On Wednesday 19 January 1966 Harold Holt learnt he would soon become the 17^thprime minster of Australia.  Tom Frame in his book “The Life and Death of Harold Holt” noted, “Just before Cabinet rose the Prime Minister (Robert Menzies) said to them: “Well, gentlemen, this is the last time I shall be with you”, and he ended his long rule with a few simple sentences’.  Menzies’ decision was conveyed to a meeting of the joint Government parties at 11 a.m. on 20 January.” The death of the Defence minister, Senator Sir Shane Paltridge, also on 19 January, and his funeral, delayed Harold Holt’s swearing in until 26 January by the Governor General Richard Casey.  Casey himself was a sometime advocate of flying saucers. See the link https://theozfiles.blogspot.com/search?q=Casey

 

Also on 19 January 1966 an event took place near Euramo, Rockingham Road, South of Tully in northern Queensland. The RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) files describe the famous Tully incident in the following manner: 

“At about 9.00 a.m. on 19th January, 1966, Mr. G.A. Pedley, a banana grower of Tully, Qld, observed a light grey non reflecting dull object, reported to be about 25 feet long and 8 feet deep, rise vertically then climb on an angle of 45from a height of about 30 feet above marshland which was situated about 25 yards away from his position. There was an associated hissing noise which decreased as the 'object' rose. The apparent shape was described as 'two saucers, face to face', but no structural detail was observed.  The duration of the observation was approximately 15 seconds and it disappeared in mid air whilst receding into the distance (not assessed).

"A clearly defined near circular depression remained in evidence in swamp grass at the point from which the object was seen rising, and measured about 32 feet long by 25 feet wide. The grass was flattened in clockwise curves to water level within the circle and the 

reeds had been uprooted from the mud. There was no scorching of grass or surrounding trees and the observer stated that there was no smell of combustion...”

 

These 2 events – the rise of PM Harold Holt and the Tully UFO event - were not generally thought to be connected, until the recent discovery by Westall researcher Shane Ryan in the National Archive of Australia (NAA) files (Series Number M2606, Control Symbol 112, Item number 4982058) amongst personal papers of PM Holt. 6 pages of handwritten material were sent to the new prime minister. 

 

They were from John Busst, a lifetime close friend of Harold Holt. Between January 19 and February 24, the incident, generally identified with nearby Tully, had become a media sensation. 

 

MISSION BEACH 15

BINGIL BAY,

VIA EL ARISH,

NORTH QUEENSLAND 

Feb.24. 1966.

Dear Harry,

Herewith the result of my rather thorough investigation into the sighting of the Flying Saucer at Euramo. I have had the young man, George Pedley, here and closely questioned him on all aspects. On the basis of this, and also as the result of questioning a large number of people acquainted with him at Euramo, I have formed the opinion that, as a witness, he is a quite reliable witness. In my own mind, I have no doubt that he sighted the object he describes. 

 

The enclosed photograph has been certified as an exact replica of the pad made by the U.F.O., by numerous witnesses who visited the scene the same day, and on the following day. 

 

To my mind, as a coast watcher, the most curious feature of the whole affair is that neither of the two teams of R.A.A.F investigators even bothered to interview the young man concerned. What gives, chum? Coast watching and other allied activities would thus offer a somewhat futile activity. 

 

I have no doubt the young man saw the object he described – I questioned him repeatedly, and could not shake his description in any way, and it in no way resembles a helicopter of any design. The pad itself (as per photograph) is most unusual, in that the area flattened is also sucked up about 3-4 feet off the ground. Alf Macdonald (of the Rain Forest Committee) was able to walk, in a crouched position right across the area. Also that the grass and reeds were bruised, not burnt. I would welcome your comments – off the record, if necessary.

All well here – more later.

Affectionately, Johnnie.

 To his 4 page covering letter he included a 2 page statement:

 

Euramo. Jan 19^thapprox. 9 a.m.

George Pedley, aged 28, banana farmer of Euramo, while driving to work on his farm in an old Ferguson kerosene (?) tractor, heard, above the considerable noise of his tractor, a loud hissing noise, which he thought at first to be a blow-out in his tractor tyre (rear). On glancing ahead, at a distance of no more than 25 yards, he observed a large grey cylindrical object, approximately 25 feet long by 9 feet deep, shaped like two inverted saucers joined together with protuberances approx. 2 ft high, on the top and the bottom (as per his enclosed sketch). The object was hovering above the 9 foot high reeds when first observed, suddenly rose to approx. 30 ft, and set off at terrific speed, vanishing at 45 degree angle on a S.S.W. course in the direction of Charters Towers. No sign of human life aboard, no portholes or other apertures in either top or bottom of structure. No sign whatsoever of flame, smoke or vapour. Very loud noise decreased as object disappeared at high speed. Whole incident occupied approx. ½ minute at the longest.

 

On examination by numerous credible witnesses, the reeds in the pad itself were found not only to be flattened, as per photograph, but were also lifted out approx. 3-4 feet off the ground, apparently by suction, in a clockwise direction. The following day, approx. 50 ft.away and close together, were discovered two similar pads in structure, but smaller in size and rotated by the same principle but in an anti-clockwise direction.

 

In a 2 ½ hour cross examination, the witness was quite unshakeable in his description of the object, and did not once, in any way, vary any detail of the object. The sighting is unusual in that it took place at 9 a.m. on a clear day.

 

J.H. Büsst.

Bingil Bay 20 Feb. 1966

 

I was familiar with the name John Busst.  He had been featured in historian Iain McCalman’s 2013 book “The Reef – A passionate History.”  In 2024 McCalman focused on Busst in a book simply called “John Busst – Bohemian artist and saviour of reef and rainforest.” McCalman didn’t mention the “Flying saucer” letter in his new book and confirmed to Shane Ryan, "Dear Shane, Thanks for your email about John Busst and UFOs. I had no idea about this but he was a hard headed guy so I would take it seriously. Good luck. Kind regards. Iain."  Busst had instilled a love of the Barrier Reef, northern Queensland and the rain forests, into Holt. The PM was a passionate scuba diver, sometimes in dangerous situations, such as shark infested waters.  The passion led to the Holts having a hideaway place not far from the Bussts.  The danger angle would unfortunately feature in the December 1967 disappearance of Holt in the wild seas off Portsea, Victoria.  The Bussts were staying with the Holts at the time.

 

It is fascinating to see the endorsement that John Busst gives to George Pedley’s sighting, along with the thoughts of historian Iain McCalman, inspired into his deep biographical journey through Busst’s life.

 

The reference to the RAAF not visiting Pedley, is sustained in the RAAF files, where it is confirmed that police conducted the interview.

 

For me, the Busst material also provided added potential evidence for the reasons why the RAAF grappled with the UFO problem in such torturous ways during 1966, as I have previously described in detail in my 1996 document (located on the Project 1947 web site) “UFOs Sub Rosa Down Under”.  I have described the issue below: 

  

THE RAAF AND THE UFO PROBLEM 

 

A Department of Air minute paper, dated February, 1966, revealed that there were “no written responsibilities for (RAAF) Operational Command in the UFO field.” 

 

It indicated that the minute writer (Squadron Leader ____ AI-2)had “reviewed the current ‘Ad Hoc’ system in the practice of processing U.F.O reports and with ‘minor criticisms’, found that it appeared “to be working satisfactorily, entailing the minimum of work by this Directorate [i.e. Directorate of Air Force Intelligence - DAFI - B.C.].’” 

After much discussion a DAFI directive was issued to both Commands (Operational and Support Commands - B.C) in March, 1966. Group Captain I.S. Podger (for the Chief of the Air Staff), wrote in it: 

The main purpose of the investigation of any UFO is to establish whether or not the subject of the report poses a threat to the security of Australia. The identification of the cause of the UFO report and its classifications as aircraft, balloon, missile, astronomical body or phenomena etc, is of minor importance and mainly for the benefit of members of the public whose interest may have been aroused by the report. 

The directive also specified: 

No attempts should be made to answer public enquiries at unit or command level. Requests by members of the public for information on UFOs in Australia and for the RAAF assessment of their origin etc should be referred to the Department of Air where they will be dealt with by the Directorate of Public Relations. 

 

It was not long before a conflict arose between the Directorates of Air Force Intelligence and Public Relations. It came to a head with the director of the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) forwarding a detailed minute paper to DAFI, dated 16th August, 1966. It was entitled UFOs - RAAF HANDLING OF PROBLEM. The conflict was over whether “the distribution to interested members of the public of the `Summary of Unidentified Aerial Sightings Reported to Department of Air from 1960’” was to cease. 

The Directorate of Air Force Intelligence (DAFI) was “keen to soft-pedal the UFO business” and gave “the reason for this cessation (as) the undesirability of wetting the interest of the public in UFOs.” 

DPR’s reaction was terse and to the point: The `Summary’ grew out of a requirement for certain statistical UFO information to provide material for a ministerial reply to a parliamentary question.” 

DPR willingly undertook to draft an answer for the Minister (a task which entailed folio- for-folio research through some four or five parts of the relevant file), because it felt that the otherwise burdensome task had some distinct side-benefit, namely, the collation of an unclassified and innocuous summary of UFO ‘sightings’ in Australia for the past five years. 

DPR envisaged the day when it would be able to reply to all public UFO enquiries by the mere despatch of the ‘summary’ covered, if thought necessary, by a letter in which we explain that we are not prepared to engage in any subsequent disputation (i.e. take our ‘Summary’ or leave; we have told you all we know). 

In order to keep this ‘Summary’ current, D/DAFI (Ops) was good enough to agree to provide DPR with the basic information which DPR would expect to have been security cleared for general release before adding the information to the ‘Summary’. 

The DPR director made, “a plea to remove the present restriction on the sharing of our unclassified UFO information with the public....” 

The DPR director said, “In summary: by continuing with the old policy of playing our UFO cards close to the chest, we only foster the incorrect (but nevertheless widely held) belief that we have much vital information to hide. On the other hand, by maintaining a current `Summary’ (which DPR is prepared to do, with your continued help) we dispose in one blow, of the UFO enthusiasts belief that: 

(a) He is not being taken into the RAAF’s correspondence; and 

(b) The RAAF is desperately determined to suppress UFO information to prevent national panic... 

The Director of Public Relations concluded his Minute Paper to the Director of Air Force Intelligence, by stating, “while security is not DPR’s affair, our relations with the general public (cranks and all) certainly are and I feel strongly, from the PR point of view, that we are handling this whole UFO business in an unnecessarily rigid and unimaginative way.” 

This theme was continued in another Department of Air Minute Paper, entitled “Unidentified Flying Object - RAAF policy” and dated 12th October, 1966. It emerged following a request from author, Richard Tambling, who had requested permission to publish B.G. Roberts’ Ballarat UFO conference presentation, in his forthcoming book, as an official view. 

DAFI were not inclined to do this. The minute paper confirmed that uncertainty and confusion were keynotes in RAAF UFO policy during 1966 - hallmarks that would continue, albeit waxing and waning, right up to today. 

It stated: 

There appears to be some confusion concerning Departmental policy over UFOs ... on file... there is a ministerial statement to the effect: 

“Anyone who is interested in sightings of UFOs can apply to the Department of Air for information on the subject and is welcome to a synopsis of UFO sightings which includes a very brief assessment of the probable causes.” 

“This statement was made in answer to ministerial representation. 

It would appear, however, that the policy represented by this statement may not have reflected the view of DAFI, despite earlier, although inconclusive evidence of his concurrence. 

...DAFI has proposed to DGPP who in turn referred to DCAS that our approach to UFO reports be liberalised. It does not appear that either DGPP or DCAS were aware of the Minister’s statement. In my opinion we must either comply with the terms of that statement or inform the minister of our ‘new’ approach, if it is not intended to provide the synopsis of sightings and on this I am not at all together clear from reading the files. 

It would, however, seem that agreement has not been reached that DPR is to handle all enquiries for information, however, it does not appear that DPR has been consulted on the extent of the liberalisation proposed by DAFI in answer to his (DPR) submission [the August 16, 1966, minute paper - B.C.] and could DPR indicate his views. 

It would also appear that there is some need for rationalisation of our files on this subject. There are at least 4 different files which contain a confusion of policy, reported sightings and requests for information. Three of these files are classified, two of which are SECRET although there appears to be nothing in the files consistent with this classification. Could DAFI and DPR consider rationalising these files please... 

As it turned out, the `Summary’ did indeed become the public front of the RAAF involvement in the Australian UFO controversy. By the end of the sixties, the `Summary’ crystallised as a largely annual affair. 

No. 1 covered reports from 1960 to 1968. No. 2 covered 1969 accounts, while 1970 and 1971 reports appeared in `Summary’ No. 3. From 1972 to 1977 inclusive, the summaries appeared somewhat erratically, covering each year with numbers 4 to 9. The RAAF had embarked on a course that locked them into a bureaucratically orchestrated formula for handling the “UFO problem.” 

 

George Pedley reported his experience to Tully Police at 7.30 pm, on January 19th. At 7 am, January 20th George Pedley and Sgt. A.V. Moylan went to the site of the incident. Sgt. Moylan, then contacted Townsville RAAF Base by telephone, on the morning of January 20th. Flt. Lt. Wallace advised Sgt. Moylan that he would forward a proforma questionnaire for completion by George Pedley. On Friday, January 21st, Flt. Lt. Wallace confirmed despatch of two copies of the sighting proforma by mail that same day and also requested Sgt. Moylan obtain “a sample of the grass from the scorched area.” At 3.30 pm, on the same day, Moylan returned to the site and took a sample “of the grass from the depression in the swamp grass at the site. The proforma was filled out by Moylan based on his interviews with George Pedley and was dated 26/1/66. Sgt. Moylan despatched the report and the sample on 26/1/66. 

The following details are extracted from the RAAF “REPORT ON AERIAL OBJECT OBSERVED”Moylan filled out with George Pedley. Because so many conflicting claims have been made about what George Pedley said at the time, it is worthwhile to go back to the documentation filled out then: 

 

Name of Observer:

George Alfred PEDLEY aged 28 years. 

Manner of observation: 

Travelling on a tractor about 1/2 mile from farm house of Albert PENNISI, Rockingham Road, Euramo. Attention attracted by hissing noise, clearly heard over noise of tractor-similar to air escaping from tyre; checked tyres and was looking about for source of noise when he saw object about 25 yards ahead. No optical instruments used in sighting. 

Height or angle of elevation: 

First seen at treetop height 30’. Rose vertically to about twice that height, then departed, climbing at about 45 degrees. 

Speed, or angular velocity: 

Extremely fast; No estimate of speed, but much faster than an aeroplane. 

It was near treetops and these gave observer a good basis for estimating height. 

Direction of flight with reference to landmarks or points of the compass: 

Rose vertically to about 60 feet and departed south west climbing at about 45 degrees; appeared to be rotating for full time observed. (object appeared to 

remain on) straight climbing path. 

Existence of any physical evidence: 

Clearly defined near circular depression in swamp grass at point from which object seen rising, about 32’ long and 25’ wide. Grass flattened to surface of 4’ of water lying in xxxx-clockwise curves. 

[Sgt. Moylan, in his report, had typed in anti-clockwise initially and then corrected it to clockwise, by overtyping ‘anti’ with ‘xxxx’. The direction of the swirl at the site of the 19 January 1966 incident was to become a matter of ongoing confusion. The clockwise direction was the correction direction - B.C.] 

Weather conditions experienced at time of observation: Clear sky; Hot sunshine. 

Location of any air traffic in the vicinity at the time of sighting: Unknown but checked by RAAF Garbut. 

[Flt. Lt. Wallace of Townsville RAAF base in a covering minute paper confirmed that 

“there were no service or Civil aircraft operating in the area .. at the time of the sighting ..” - B.C.] 

Any additional information: (Sgt. Moylan wrote) 

Observer reported this matter to Tully Police at 7.30pm on 19/1/66 and at 7am, 20/1/66 went with me to the site of the depression in the swamp. His version then included the information that the object rose vertically, appeared to dip slightly and then went off in straight climbing path. He then said...further that there was no smell of combustion and no scorching of grass or trees visible; that the the flattened grass or rushes was quite green when he first saw the depression; on his return that afternoon the grass had turned brown. 

(Sgt. Moylan further added:) 

In this matter I formed the opinion that the depressed area in the swamp grass had been caused by a small helicopter and that the observer, in the early morning bright sunlight shining on the rotor may have mistaken the shape. His description of the take off lent some strength to my opinion. However, there was cleared land to the east for about 200 yards where such an aircraft could have more safely landed instead of the position indicated by the observer, close to trees. Later I was informed by Wallace Evans of ...Tully, an electrician that he has seen similar markings in a swamp at Kurrumine Beach and is quite certain that it was caused by a whirlwind, sucking up water into a waterspout, 

uprooting the grass and laying it out in a similar pattern. At 3.30pm, 21/1/66 I took a sample of the grass at the site and have forwarded it under separate cover on even date. 

 

Flt. Lt. T.D. Wright, for Air Officer Commanding, Headquarters Operational Command, RAAF, Penrith, New South Wales (NSW), on-forwarded police Sgt. Moylan’s report on George Pedley’s UFO sighting and Flt. Lt. Wallace’s covering minute paper, to the Department of Air, Russell Offices, Canberra. His communication classified RESTRICTED, which was channelled to the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence (DAFI), also indicated,“This headquarters believes that the depressions of the swamp grass were caused by small isolated waterspouts.” 

In response to an enquiry, dated 2nd February, 1966, from the Commonwealth Aerial Phenomena Investigation Organisation (CAPIO), the Secretary, Department of Air, Mr. A.B. McFarlane, wrote on 11th February, 1966:

“Investigations of the area surrounding the reported “Nests”, testing of samples taken from around them and interrogation of persons involved in the report failed to reveal anything of significance. 

“However, during enquiries a number of local residents stated that the reported “nests” are fairly common during the onset of the “wet”. Furthermore, the University of Queensland stated that there was nothing unnatural in the samples submitted and assessed that the “nests” could have been the result of severe turbulence, which normally accompany line squalls and thunderstorms prevalent in NORTH QUEENSLAND at the time of the year. 

“There is no explanation for the visible phenomena reported but it could have been associated with or the result of “down draughts”, “willy willies” or “water spouts” that are known to occur in the area. 

“.. for information ....in January of this year from an airfield in the tropics (a number of photographs taken give) a ne example of the type and growth of a cloud formation occurring with a severe “down draught”

This whirling mass of tropical air associated with thunderstorm activity, on reaching the earth’s surface may dissipate and subside or persist giving rise to dust eddies, water spouts, etc, and leaving a tell tale circular pattern on the ground. 

Should it occur over a swampy reed bed the effect would be to fatten the reeds with a circular pattern. resultant photographs and investigations of the “nests” seem to t in with this theory and is accepted as a possible cause of the phenomena.” 

 

It is fascinating to note how Secretary McFarlane’s cursory explanatory exposition, no doubt inspired by “the tornado-like meteorological phenomena” infested skies over Willow Grove, Victoria and Vaucluse Beach, NSW, anticipated by almost 2 decades Dr. Terence Meaden’s early theoretical attempts to explain the English “crop circles” of the 1980s. Dr. Meaden would mistakenly assume that George Pedley saw his “vortex” at 9 pm, not 9 am, which is a fatal flaw in the mechanism he put forth to explain the report. 

 

The only other significant official statement on the Tully sighting I found in the RAAF les was included in a letter by Mr. G.J. Odgers, Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence (Air Office), dated 17th December, 1973, directed to Charles Wright, a journalist working on an article for the national newspaper, The Australian. 

 

George Odgers’ Air Office public relations department had clearly gleaned from the 1966 DAFI files details an explanation of what George Pedley had seen, that the original RAAF officers and Department officers back in 1966 had not determined: 

“Although a conclusive determination could not be made, the most probable explanation was that the sighting was of a ‘willy willy’ or circular wind phenomenon which flattened the reeds and sucked up debris to a height of about 30 feet, thus forming what appeared to be a ‘flying saucer’, before moving off and dissipating. Hissing noises are known to be associated with ‘willy willies’ and the theory is also substantiated by the clockwise configuration of the depression. 

 

Mr. Odgers further added, more generally, 

“All to often unusual occurrences are reported in sensational terms with little or no attempt made at rational assessment. The general subject is ‘newsworthy’ and lends itself to sensationalism and guesswork, but in most cases logical explanations follow from careful investigation. You will appreciate that there is nothing to be gained from reopening old cases.” [a sentiment I would not agree with - B.C.] 

 

The Busst communication with the new PM Harold Holt seems to have created quite a splash – further confirmation of the importance of the Tully (Euramo) object and its strange “alien” stigmata – the “saucer nest” found on 19 January 1966.

 

References:

Thanks to Shane Ryan and Grant Lavac

Bill Chalker, “UFO Sub Rosa Down Under” (1996)

Bill Chalker, “The OZ Files – the Australian UFO story” (1996)

Bill Chalker, http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/(see the Tully stories)

Iain McCalman, “John Busst” (2024)

Iain McCalman, “The Reef – A passionate history” (2013)

NAA files (Series Number M2606, Control Symbol 112, Item number 4982058)